Nikon reveals production goals for D4 and D800, cost of earthquake damage

Tuesday, February 14, 2012 | by Eamon Hickey

Nikon's production target for the D4 is 5,000 units per month, and for the D800 it is 30,000 units per month, according to Jiro Saito, the President of Nikon's Sendai factory (technically, Sendai Nikon Corp.), which manufactures both cameras. Saito's remarks were reported on Bernama.com, the national news agency of Malaysia, which was one of several South Asian and Pacific region news organizations that were given a tour of the Sendai facility. (In 2007, we published our own report, which includes several Nikon-supplied photos, on a similar tour of the Sendai factory, which took place when the D3 and D300 were introduced.)

Both the D4 and the D800 comprise about 1600 separate parts, according to Saito.

Saito also said that Nikon spent about US$100 million to repair the damage suffered by the Sendai factory in the Tohoku Earthquake that struck northeastern Japan last March. The factory was back up to full production within three weeks of the earthquake, according to the Bernama article.